News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1887-11-10
OLD DRESDEN.

Old Dresden paused for a moment in
his task OF braeking up the gnarled
mesquite roots, and with a long breath
OF satisfaction and the air of connois-
seur viewed the pink-tinted heap be-
side him. Pulling off his dilapidated
hat, he allowed the cool morning breeze
to play among the somewhat ragged
locks which hung over his forehead.
The sun, like great crimson ball, huno
sleepily above the Eastern horizon. cast
ng FAINT glow upon the tUrTetted fac;
OF the tloridas, and gliding the distant
peaks OF the Tres Hermanas, standing
In close-Ilnked embrace, like allied SEN
unels guarding the Mexican frontier.
In the long, level space which stretched
between the mountains, born aloft on
the curling fingers of the morning mist,
appeared phantom city, its castel-
lated heights and stately domes rearing
themselves as if in prophecy of the
years to come, when a noble civilization |
shall redeem the barren mesas of the |
Southern territories, and raise the mon
uments of art and architecture amid the
arid plains.
The echo of human voices fell upon
DRESDEN s ear
'fOh, John, why nustyou go?'' A wo-
man S voice, low and sweet with n ire
NOR of pain. v
dear. Three weeks viii hy by in no c
time. And who knows how rich q G
strike I may make"
''But / don't want it, 1 need you
JOHN Old Dresden addressed himself
to the woodpile with redoubled energy.
A flying knot of mesquite struck his
hand The sting of the wound refresh
ed him, and little later he heard the
door of the cottage slam, while the clink
of a horses hoof sounded on the gravel
ly soil. As he watched horse and rider
disappear at length in the direction of
the mirage, which had shifted its form
so as to resemble huge beast of prey
couched for spring upon its prey, |
something like very hot German oath
rolled like stihed thunder from his lips. |
ga teufel of fellow" he murmured |
more calmly under breath an instant |
later, accenting the qualification with
stout blows of the axe ON an obstinate
root, which had as many contortiOns as
a dying serpent. GA teufel of a fellow.
Leaf q little frau like dat alone to go
to Mexico to tig COLT in mittel de win
der. 1t might be ferry gOOt for him,
he added meditatiyely, leaning upon
the axe-helve, his face screwed into into
q quaint grimace, ''as old Ju should
take off his scalp for him-but de little
frau"
With sudden indrawing of his shoul-
ders ahd an accompanying droop of the
corners of his mouth, he seemed to
protest against his own harsh Judgment
as he renewed the combat with the OBJ
stinate fact.
Old Dresden was not the only one
who disapproved of John Merediths
journey through the wild Sierra Madre
at that season of the year, when storms
were frequent in the mountains and
Apaches skulking in the valleys and
passes His partner, David Rowell, had
entered a vigorous protest, but to no
avail. John Meredith had the pugnacity
of determination peculiar to men of
genius. From early boyhood his career
had been signalized bya series of daring
and headstrong exploits, and when, as q
crowning feat, he had captured pretty |
Helen Gresham by an audacious move,
if David Rowell felt any soreness of /
heart over her capitulation he choked it |
bravely down and harbored no bitterness
in his honest heart
A week after her husbands departure |
Mrs. Meredith received a scrawl from |
a friend, written Just as they were taking /
the trail ''And don't be worried, my |
DEAR" he wrote in conclusion; ''the days |
will pass quickly, and three weeks will
soon be up. But you must count from
the date of our departure" She dried
her eyes and counted the days from the
10th of February.
On the 1st of March q warm wind
swept over the southern table lands.
Under its breath the snow upon the
mountain peaks vanished as if by magic
and the dry bed of the Miembres became
the course of n surging torrent, sweeping
onward for final plunge into the waters
of the gulf. The fern-like foliage of the
mesquite commenced to cautiously un-
fold, and the wild verbena and lupine
made tiny patches of purple and magenta
over the sterile wastes.
On the I'd of March Helen Meredith
rose with tremulous eagerness ut dawn.
The morning was calm and still, but
peculiar obscurity about the horizon
presaged the approach of the New-Mex-
lean sirocco. Stationed at q bullseye
window in the attic, with field-glass in
her hand, the young wife kept her eyes
steadily fixed ON the winding, silvery
ribbon attenuated to q thread in the
ulSIance, WHICH nafReu llle llle Oh trdNeI
pursued by passers to and fro over the
Mexican ne. For upward of an hour
nothing rewarded her vigilance; then a
long and blurred mass developed into
train of hay wagons, each drawn by
score OF stout limbed oxen and attended |
by deputation of half-clothed swarthy
Mexicans. Another hour passed, and |
the rough wagon of Texan rancher ap-
peared, the horses strolling leisurely |
along, while man and wife, perched on
the high drivers scat, smsked their clay
pipes in placid content
Absorbed in her anxious watch, little
Mrs Meredith had not observed that
the wind had risen, and for moment
was almost appalled, to see road and
landscape disappear from view beneath
dan colored cloud, which, as it drew
near, effectually concealed every trace